Never Stand Down
by NV Anarchy Child
Summary: It all started with a stolen lunch, and everything went downhill from there. The Reikai Tantei have to side with the lesser of two evils and learn to work together before an ancient darkness awakens. And wait a sec...those kids are whose?
1. Better Than You

Yes, yes...I don't now and never will own Yu Yu Hakusho. Then again, NEITHER WILL ANY OF YOU! So I feel alright about that. Ok, in this story, there will be a lot a POV switching, but I'll be sure to specify when I switch and to whom I'm switching to. A line of XXX indicates a change in time or place. Why X? I don't know, just go with it. All author's notes will be saved for the ends of the chapters, and ALL CRITISM WILL BE ACCEPTED. I want to know if I am doing ANYTHING wrong. Even if I make something as small as a spelling error, I wanna know about it! But of course, I only accept constructive critism. Flames will be laughed at and then posted on the white boards at my school just so everyone can laugh at your tiny intellect. Now, without any further ramblings...BEGIN! 

Never Stand Down Fraction 1: Better Than You

The sun beamed with the day, and Yusuke Urameshi just couldn't bring himself to go to school on such a day. Why, it would be an insult to the lovely weather for him to let himself be trapped inside all day long. So, Yusuke, along with Kuwabara, decided to be kind to the weather and not let themselves be locked up all day. For you see, Yusuke and Kuwabara were very sick, and the arcade was the only place in town that had any medicine to help them.

The two entered the arcade with Yusuke knowing all the while that Keiko would slap him good for ditching again. She always told him that he would never graduate if he didn't attend more. Yusuke knew she was right, but he didn't really care.

Soon the two were playing away, Kuwabara trying to out-play Yusuke and visa versa.

"I'm gonna beat you, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled with confidence.

"Not even in your dreams. You couldn't beat your way out of a paper bag," returned Yusuke cooly. And just as the detective said this...he died. Well, rather his character died. Kuwabara pointed and laughed at the cocky spirit detective.

"Ha! Beat you, Urameshi!"

Yusuke just stared, gaping at the screen that kept flashing GAME OVER. Yusuke jumped from his seat, ready to give Kuwabara a beating for laughing at him when...

"You know, you're not really good at that."

The boys directed their attention to the girl staring at Yusuke's GAME OVER screen.

"Sure, like you're any better," Yusuke said, trying to make out his defeat to be less than it was.

This girl had short dirty blonde hair about the length of Yusuke's. She had pale blue eyes and wore tattered blue jeans and a white t-shirt. She was also tall enough to be staring Yusuke straight in the eye.

"Ummm...I think I am," said the girl.

"Oh really?" Yusuke asked, egging her on. "I bet you aren't!"

"I bet I am!"

"You're on!"

"Get ready to lose!"

In moments, the two were locked in the heat of battle, mashing buttons, jerking control sticks, and fighting to best the other. They stared at the screen with the exact same posture; they were leaned over, eye balls practicly pressed against the screen. Kuwabara watched on as the two became more violent, giving battle cries and curses as needed. Suddenly Yusuke slammed his head against the screen and the girl jumped out of her seat yelling "Boo ya!"

"You lost to a girl, Urameshi!" Kuwabara mocked.

Yusuke simply groaned in defeat.

"Anyway," the girl said with a western accent. "You're pretty good."

"I can't believe I lost...to a girl..." Yusuke moaned, head still rested against the screen that once again flashed the words GAME OVER.

"Geez, is it that bad that I'm a girl? You oughta get out more. There are girls better than me around here." She gave a sheepish grin as she tried to make Yusuke feel even the slightest bit better.

"I think you killed his ego," Kuwabara stated.

"Well..." she began, thinking of what to do. "How about lunch to make up for it?" she shouted with pride for her idea.

Yusuke's stomach growled.

"I'll take that as a yes! C'mon boys! Let's get food!"

XXX

At the restaraunt, Yusuke and Kuwabara began eating everything they could. Hey, it was someone else's money. The girl just watched on with an eyebrow raised.

"You guys were hungry, huh?"

Kuwabara swallowed the bite of food in his mouth. "We never got your name."

"Oh, it's Roxanne," she answered.

"So, where're you from? You're accent's different."

"America." She paused. "And what's your name?"

"Kuwabara, and this is Yusuke."

Roxanne leaned back in her seat. "So I take it you guys are skipping class, too?"

Yusuke swallowed hard to get his rave out fast. "Cause teachers are all idiots!"

"I'm with you on that one," Roxanne agreed. She tipped her seat back onto one leg and put her hands behind her head, reclining. She yawned stretched as she continued watching the boys with a raised eyebrow. She would've asked more questions or made small talk or something, but the two boys' mouths were so stuffed full of food that she feared one of them(Yusuke more than Kuwabara) would have something the shout and not get all of their food down before spitting it across the table at her in a rant. She was relieved when Kuwabara swallowed all of his food before speaking.

"Where in America?" he asked.

"Pittsburgh," she answered, yawning again.

"Where's that?"

"It's like, up north, and it's kinda next to Ohio."

Both boys looked puzzled at her answer still. She shrugged inwardly and decided it would be better not to try to explain it to them. The bill was left on the table moments later by a cute blonde waitress that Yusuke couldn't help but whistle at, but then Kuwabara threatened to tell Keiko...

Roxanne raised an eyebrow at the bill. "My God can you guys eat." The boys didn't say anything. Besides, she said she would pay the bill, and they didn't have any money. "No problem." She stood and reached into her pocket. Just as she was retrieving her hand, the table behind them overturned with a horribly loud crash, knocking the two detectives out of their seats and onto the floor. They sat up just as the blonde-haired waitress ran over to them.

"Are you two alright?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Just fine," Yusuke grumbled.

"I'm okay," Kuwabara assured, trying to hang tough dispite the lump on his head. The two righted the table behind them along with their chairs before the waitress said anything more.

"So, how would you boys like to pay?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, we're not paying," Yusuke said. He pointed to Roxanne over his shoulder. "She is." The waitress frowned.

"Who is?"

"She-" Kuwabara and Yusuke turned around, but Roxanne was long gone. His mouth dropped open. "That little-!"

"She stuck us with the bill!" Kuwabara fumed.

The waitress pasted a cute frown onto her face. "Well someone has to pay for all that food." Then a man, who was balding quite badly and wearing a dark business suit walked out from kitchen.

"What is going on out here?" he demanded hotly, his unibrow raising with his anger.

"These two boys here can't pay their bill, sir." The waitress twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"It's not our fault!" Yusuke yelled in anger.

"Sure it's not," the balding man said sarcastically. "Your money just ran out the door."

"Well it did!"

The balding man sighed and motioned to the waitress. "Give these two a couple of aprons."

Yusuke and Kuwabara turned to each other.

"Aprons?"

XXX

Yusuke grumbled and growled, scrubbing the dish in his hand with such furiosity that Kuwabara thought he would break it in half.

"This is all her fault...I hate girls..." Yusuke grumbled more, dressed with rubber gloves on his hands, a hairnet in his hair, and an apron. Kuwabara was dressed the same.

"Hey, Urameshi, weren't you supposed to meet Keiko at the movies today after school?"

Yusuke simply let out a frustrated scream and smacked his head against the counter.

Meanwhile...

Hours later, Keiko stood outside the theater...alone...

"Yusuke, you JERK!"

XXX Poor, Poor Yusuke. What will become of Yusuke? What the hell was Roxanne's problem? Where is this all going? Read next time! Reviews are welcome.

NV Anarchy Child Formerly,  
DWKitsune


	2. Enter Yumi

Okay! I'm finally getting to this next chapter. I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho...it's all owned by those people at Shonen Jump and Yoshihiro Togashi and all the other people who own it... Anyway, I don't have anything to say, so...ON WITH IT! 

Never Stand Down

Fraction 2: Enter Yumi

"Yusuke, you JERK!" Keiko was furious at Yusuke, who had let her down...again. She sat herself down on the curb in front of the theater, on the verge of tears, and yelled again. "You STUPID JERK!" She was so wrapped up emotionally that she really didn't care if people on the street were beginning to stop and stare at her.

"Hey, Sweetheart," she jumped at the voice that sounded low but female. Keiko turned her head. Short sandy hair, blue eyes, jeans and a t-shirt...

"Um...Yes?" Keiko asked, unsure of the girl behind her.

"What the hell are you screaming over?" this new girl asked her with a friendly smile to show that she meant nothing by her language.

Keiko turned her head back to the street. "Oh, that." Keiko wanted to say something to tell this new girl how much of a jerk Yusuke was sometimes.

The girl sat down next to her in a relaxed position with her straight legs crossed in the street and her arms propping the rest of her body up. "Talk to me, Sweetheart." Keiko didn't understand the concept of on girl calling another girl "Sweetheart", but she just took it as a friendly gesture.

"Well, you see, there's this boy..."

"Oh, it's a boy is it!" the new girl laughed a warm laugh. "And you're in front of this theater all by your lonesome!" She leaned closer. "Bastard stood you up, didn't he?"

Keiko was shocked. This girl just came out of nowhere and started chatting like they were old friends, like she went to school with this girl everyday.

"I'm sorry, I never got your name," Keiko said politely.

"It's Roxanne." She smiled. "And you are?"

"Keiko Yukimura. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hey! Roxanne!" Keiko and Roxanne both turned at the voice. A girl only a few inches taller than Rocky was running down the sidewalk in long strides, waist-long, chestnut hair flowing behind her, glistening, green eyes gazing ahead of her. She was dressed in a pair of jeans much cleaner looking than the ones Roxanne was wearing and a tan sweater with flower patterns down the sleeves. She stopped beside Roxanne and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.

"I've been looking all over for you!" she said with a heavy foreign accent.

"So?" Roxanne answered back, crossing her legs more tightly.

"You were supposed to be home an hour ago!" the girl shouted, clearly frustrated.

"Oh, that. Sorry, my bad."

"And you didn't come to school today, either!"

Roxanne just smiled and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Let's go!" She grabbed Roxanne by her arms and pulled her to her feet roughly. She then proceeded to drag her down the sidewalk.

Roxanne looked back over her shoulder and yelled, "See ya later, Sweetheart!"

Keiko stood up from the curb, her anger for Yusuke somewhat forgotten as she watched the two turn a corner.

"Keiko!"

She turned to the sound of the voice she knew all too well coming from the opposite direction that the girls had just left in. Any anger that had left had returned at an alarming rate. She crossed her arms and began to walk away.

"Keiko! Wait a minute! C'mon!"

Running footsteps came up behind her, slowing to a walking pace when they reached her.

"C'mon, Keiko! It wasn't my fault!"

Keiko swirled around and glared directly at the owner of those footsteps. "Sure, Yusuke, it's never your fault."

"But Keiko! There was this girl!" the distressed Yusuke tried to reason.

Keiko's eyes narrowed. "So it was a GIRL? Yusuke!" She raised her hand high in the air and brought it down in a violent slap against Yusuke's cheek. Yusuke fell back a few steps, a glowing red handprint present on his face. Keiko turned and stormed away, yelling "Yusuke, you're so hopeless!"

Now a few blocks away, Roxanne and the girl who had dragged her away began to talk. The girl with the heavy foreign accent spoke first.

"Please tell me you did that on purpose," she said, tightening her sweater around her.

Roxanne just stretched and asked casually, "Did what on purpose?"

The girl stopped and turned to Roxanne. "Do you have any clue who that was?"

Roxanne just yawned and shook her head, staring lazily down the street, looking like she wasn't paying any attention at all.

"Roxanne, this is serious!"

Roxanne waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Everything's always serious with you, Richelle." She stuffed her hands into her jean pockets and started walking down the sidewalk again.

The girl named Richelle started after her, throwing her hands into the air. "You're so careless! You need to pay more attention to who you decide to socialize with."

Roxanne shrugged. "She said her name was Keiko something. What the hell does it matter?"

Richelle didn't say anything for a few minutes. Finally, she spoke, "Well, off the topic, why were you absent from school today?"

Roxanne smiled. "I was having lunch with a celebrity."

"Really? Who?"

"Yusuke Urameshi."

Richelle stopped dead in her tracks and looked as though she would faint. "You did WHAT!"

"Well, actually, I stole lunch from him. Then, I sat around the city all day. Then I ran into the Keiko girl who was sitting on the curb screaming about something. I don't know what. I wasn't really paying attention."

Richelle laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?"

She turned to Roxanne smiling. "You still don't know who that was, do you?"

Rocky still didn't seem to understand. "And I still don't get why it's important."

"That, my friend, was Keiko Yukimura."

"And?"

"She's Yusuke's beloved girlfriend."

The American teen turned to her friend, smirked, and said with amusement, "Oh, really?"

XXX

"Class, sit down," Mr. Iwamoto commanded his class as he walked into the room. All in the room fell silent on the teacher's command, as they scrambled into their seats. Yusuke, as usual, was not among them. Of course, Keiko, the teachers, and the rest of the class were all used to it by now. He was never a well off student anyway, so most thought that it was better that he chose not to show up. The students retrieved their textbooks from their school bags and the lesson began slowly. As Mr. Iwamoto spoke, the door opened with the smallest of noises. At first, Keiko thought it might be Yusuke strolling in with his mouth gaping in a yawn, arms reached over his head in a stretch. She was surprised to see a girl walk in slowly instead of the raven-haired teen. Her frame was tiny, barely reaching five feet, and her skin was a pale, almost sickly and ghastly, shade of white. Long and straight strands of jet black hair fall to her waist and framed her delicate face with shortly cut bangs. The newcomer blinked and Keiko noticed her eyes, almost too large for her head, were a shimmering shade of blue. The first words out of her mouth came in such a small and innocent voice that most of the class missed what she said.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly with a small bow. She righted herself and held out a small slip of paper. "Could you please tell me if I'm in the correct class?" Mr. Iwamoto took the slip slowly, sweeping his eyes across her face, looking for any sign of some sort of fear. He wasn't looking for a pure fear, but the kind of fear that let's a student make a mistake once and only once, the kind of fear that keeps a student in line and under control. His eyes moved from her porcelin face to the paper and he nodded.

"Well..." He paused, scanning the paper once more. "...Miss Matsui, sit down." She took one of the few empty seats in the room and reached into her bag to get her textbook as the rest of the class had done. As she was opening it, Mr. Iwamoto spoke again, "And Miss Matsui,".

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't let it happen again."

"Oh, of course."

The class progressed at a slow and rather boring pace. It dragged on, moving from subject to subject until the students, bored to tears, were given their lunch break. Keiko stook and walked over to the new girl, who hadn't spoke since she had promised never to be late for class again. The girl sat eating a small luch and reading with chopsticks in one hand and a book in the other. Keiko, the wonderfully nice girl that she was, walked over and said a quick hello.

"Oh, hello," the girl said as she looked up, still somewhat engrossed in her reading. "I'm sorry, you surprised me is all."

"I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to welcome you to our class." Keiko smiled warmly and sat down in the desk next to her. "I'm Keiko Yukimura. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Yumi Matsui." The crystal blue-eyed girl introduced herself. "My family just moved here, so I haven't quite adjusted to the move yet." She shifted slightly in her seat and continued eating in small bites, giving Keiko a turn to speak.

"What's your family like?" Keiko brought forth her lunch from her leather schoolbag and began eating her meal just as Yumi was.

"Well," Yumi paused and leaned back in her chair. "my mother, my sister, and I live in a house across town with some...friends, if that's what you want to call them. Don't get me wrong, they're wonderful people to live with for the most part." She finished the last little bit of her lunch and set the empty container aside.

"What about your father?" Keiko immediately wanted to retract the question as soon as she asked it. Her face became worried, afraid she would offend the fragile-looking girl.

Yumi simply laughed lightly at Keiko's expression. "Don't look so worried. It was just a curious question." She shifted again in her seat and folded her hands neatly on her lap. "My father passed away when I was very young. Neither my sister or I can remember him."

"I'm so sorry." Now, Keiko did regret asking the question, but Yumi's calm expression reassured her.

"It's quite alright." She closed her hands over her mouth and coughed weakly. Before Keiko could ask if she was all right, Yumi continued, "So, what about your family?"

"My family?" Keiko thought momentarily. There really wasn't much to tell. "I live with my mother and father in their ramen shop."

Before they realized it, the bell signalling the end of lunch chimed, and it was time to return to their studies. The afternoon wasn't much more interesting. Textbooks and long pages of notes that seemed to go on for days instead of hours filled everyone's time. By the time the last bell rang, everyone was more than ready to go home and either continue their studies there or head off to cram school for what was left of the day.

At the school's front gate, Keiko and Yumi met one last time for that day.

"Ja matte, Yumi." Keiko smiled, waving.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Keiko."

And the two parted, both heading home in opposing directions.

XXX

Wow...It took me a REALLY long time to get that updated. I'm really sorry about that, guys. I promise I'll try to update more in these coming weeks. Anyway, reviews would be really great, even if you don't like the story. Remember, constructive criticism, because flames are for the idiotic.

Love and Peace, you freaks


End file.
